By Niyi Aborisade
There is no doubt that Nigeria is operating the most expensive democracy in the world. The bicameral legislature is modelled after that of the United States of America but surpassed the latter in the area of budget and financing.
The first thing to examine is whether we really need to continue with the most expensive bicameral legislature in the light of our poor economy and mismanagement, is it advancing our democracy in any way or should we adopt a Unicameral legislature?
Unicameralism is the practice of having one legislative or parliamentary chamber. Therefore, a Unicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of one chamber. Approximately, half of the world’s governing systems are currently Unicameral including the Vatican city and Republic of China.
The two major arguments in support of bicameral legislature (Lower and Upper House) are prevention of hasty passage of bills and prevention of dictatorship.
What they will not mention is the delay in passage of bills and failure to meet emergency situation which is rampant in Nigeria, and that it will not allow filibusters to carry out nefarious activities as they do when there are two chambers. I do not proposed to go into the details of the advantages but I will confine myself as to whether Nigeria as a country needs bicameral legislature at this stage; can we afford it or whether to cut the wages and constituency allowances of the lawmakers which never gets to their constituents anyway.
There is one House of Representatives slot for two local governments. Each local government has a chairman and Councillors. Their main purpose is to bring government nearer to the people and to cater for their constituency. One now wonders why there are constituency allowances for a member of House of Representatives. The Senators also collect constituency allowances.
In carrying out a balancing exercise, we need to consider how much is going to the National Assembly alone, bearing in mind that each State also have their own State Assembly.
In 2010, the Emir of Kano who was then Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, maintained that 25 percent of recurrent expenditure of the Federal Government budget are allocated to our National Assembly. No wonder, the place has now been considered as an avenue to become rich, award juicy political compensation for godfathers and a retirement abode for Governors who had earlier feed fat on the states budget for eight years. Majority are going there not because they have any mission to fulfill, or informed on how to better the lots of millions of Nigeria through lawmaking, but to partake in the sharing of the national cake in another status.
Nigeria’s National Assembly is just a gathering of elected few numbers of people that are not more than 469. This figure is the one that now takes a whole 25 percent of the budget! This is not to indict the members of the National Assembly but an indictment on the system itself that created such a loophole to feed fat on. As a matter of fact, there is little value in return for the huge sum of money that is appropriated to the National Assembly. I say it is the system that gives cover for the huge sum appropriated to them because without the backing of the constitution they cannot even try it. In this, the Executive also has a question to answer because without the presidential assent the law that allowed this excesses should have been reviewed over the years. However, the president in using the National Assembly for his own selfish reason gave his assent and the rest is history.
Another point that got me thinking that despite the cries over this financial or budgetary imbalance that appropriated huge 25 percent to the National Assembly is that till date, there has been no voice from either the judiciary or the executive to redress this issue. To me, that means the other two arms of government also have their own legally ‘favourable financial compensation’ in Nigeria’s budget, which is yet unknown to the Nigerian masses, hence it has become the issue of who casts the stone first.
We are borrowing money to supplement the budget and other things which translates to only one thing and that is we are living above our means. This must not continue! Any country that lives above its means is doomed to fail and become bankrupt on the long run.
We need to really think about the future of the unborn generations and money that should be allocated to science and technology that are now being used for unproductive exercises and gathering of people that deliver little to the country. The future of the country does not depend solely on the reconstruction of roads that will later fall into disrepair but in meaningful development in the areas of science and technology.
The Chinese, Indians and Japanese are good examples of how technology can transform a nation to a Super power. The Chinese are now the master of many African countries including Nigeria and yet they practice Unicameralism despite their huge population. They are the most populous country in the world but they are also frugal in their spending.
There is no credible reasons why we just like to spend money like a drunken Sailor, the money we do not have. Imagine the fact that less than 500 people where some of them are not even university graduates are feeding fat on 25 percent of the country’s budget?
With these facts that are staring us in the face, Do we therefore really need the two houses? If the answer is yes, then we have to remove all the unnecessary financial padding to compensate these few people and probably consider to make it even a part time job.
If the answer is no, then, let the process to say this begin and amend the constitution to usher in a Unicameral legislature. In doing this, we must not lose focus that the target is a fewer number of lawmakers, practical less budget on them, so that the excess could be expended on meaningful developmental projects that will position Nigeria for the future.
Niyi Aborisade is the National President of a Non-Governmental Organisation and democracy group, the National Movement for Positive Change (NMPC) worldwide.
